"Just a bit more, just a bit more and I'll have even greater power." Taut's eyes were bloodshot; he could feel the gold in his arms storing strength—sacrifice another dozen or so and he'd get an upgrade.
"Gunfire over there—move, faster!" A furious roar came from the corner of a distant street.
A dozen Enforcers in raincoats burst round the bend. In the lamplight they spotted Taut, drenched in blood, clutching his stomach.
The squad leader saw at once—no raincoat—and barked, "Open fire!"
Bang-bang-bang!
The men behind him fired instantly; muzzle-flashes lit the night. Taut spun away and darted into a side alley the moment they shot.
Thud!
Even so, several rounds punched into his back.
"He's hit—he won't last long! After him!" the leader yelled, charging in pursuit.
Whoosh! They'd barely reached the corner when a blood-soaked figure lunged out—fast as if untouched by injury.
"Damn it!" The leader gasped and snapped off shots.
Bang! The bullet tore through Taut's gut, but pain didn't register.
"Aargh!" He roared and smashed a fist into the leader's head.
Crack! Snap!
The blow caved the man's face, shattered his skull, and hurled him two metres to the pavement—dead on the spot.
Bang-bang-bang! Startled by his ferocity, the remaining Enforcers fired wildly.
Yet at such close range Taut was among them in three strides; with comrades all around they couldn't shoot freely.
Thud-thud-thud!
"Aah!"
"My arm!"
"Break off!"
"Aah!"
In the chaos Taut struck once per man, each blow to a vital spot—after so many kills he knew exactly where to end a life.
At the cost of five fresh bullet holes he wiped out the entire squad.
Feeling the gold stone in his arms grow hot—scorching—Taut grinned like a madman: "Huff-huff-huff, the offering's complete. I'll be stronger soon—hahaha—stronger!"
Bang!
A single shot rang out. Mid-laugh, Taut froze; a crimson hole appeared in his forehead.
Blood mixed with white matter trickled down; eyes wide in disbelief, he toppled face-first.
Thud! He fell among the fallen Enforcers, rain drumming his cheeks, unable to believe he could die so cheaply.
Down the street, a sharp-featured blonde woman lowered her single-shot rifle and sneered, "A Source-Artifact User? Didn't expect to drop him so easily."
"Nice shot, Diliya. The freak was a Monster—took a whole squad of Enforcers while soaked in bullets."
The more brutal the criminal and the higher the body-count, the bigger the credit when they bring him down.
Behind them another dozen officers stared in shock at the heap of their dead colleagues.
They'd arrived late, thankful their slower legs had saved their lives.
"Come on, let's bag the bodies—pity about our comrades," the man said, though his grin betrayed him.
All he saw now was the glory heading his way.
The group moved up; only Diliya ducked under an eaves, rifle in hand, quietly watching the others approach.
The middle-aged captain stopped a dozen metres from Taut, pumped several extra rounds into the corpse, then advanced.
Rolling the body over and counting the wounds, he exclaimed, "This guy's tough as nails—still breathing with all this lead in him."
"Captain, they're a mess—every wound says bare-handed kills." The officers, seeing caved chests and faces, felt a chill of what-might-have-been.
Had they arrived sooner, they'd be the ones on the ground.
"Hm? What's this?" He noticed a faint twitch beneath Taut's shirt and reached out.
Pop! A fist-sized diamond-shaped chunk of gold burst through the fabric and hovered two metres overhead.
"What the hell—a source artifact?" The Enforcers snapped to alert.
The captain raised his pistol; every officer trained weapons on the golden object.
Buzz! Under their gaze it erupted in blinding gold light; every Enforcer instinctively shut his eyes.
Even Diliya, who was farther away, looked grave, leveling her spear from around the corner.
Whoosh! The blinding golden light suddenly shrank, and a twenty-meter-tall, ten-meter-wide golden curtain appeared, centered on the gold stone.
"Good heavens, what's going on? Weren't we here to catch a murderer?" A young Enforcer stared at the golden curtain blooming in the night, shock written across his face.
"Damn it, is that a source artifact? Should we pull back?" The middle-aged Enforcer beside him was already thinking of retreat; anything involving a source artifact was way beyond what ordinary folk like them could handle.
Hearing his men, the squad leader barked, "No one retreats! This could be our chance—seizing a source artifact is worth far more than nabbing a killer."
Eyes blazing with ambition, the squad leader felt promotion and fortune within reach: slay the crazed murderer and seize a source artifact in one stroke.
While the leader was lost in fantasy, ripples swept across the golden curtain.
Whoosh! Before anyone could react, a three-meter-tall figure burst out—purple-red skin, pointed ears, beastman head, running on all fours with twenty-centimeter claws.
"Hahaha, the Monster Association makes its entrance!!!" The beast Monster roared to the sky, ignoring the dozen weaklings nearby.
Around its neck hung a thick red hoop—monster weapons that granted both mental and energy defense.
Right now the portal could admit only three Monsters within half an hour; that was the limit paid for by the souls of a hundred people.
"A Monster!" a terrified scream rang out from the side.
The beast Monster grinned and turned to the dozen horrified Enforcers.
"Damn it, shoot it dead!" The squad leader, equally terrified, saw the three-meter wall of flesh in front of him.
Terror flipped to fury; he raised his pistol and fired into the Monster's disdainful face.
Bang-bang-bang!
The other Enforcers hastily joined the fusillade.
Clang-clang-clang!
Bullets sparked off its hide like metal on metal. The beast Monster sneered, "Is that all? Then it's my turn!"
The Enforcers couldn't understand its words; they only saw the huge body charge.
Shluck! Shluck!
In a flash the beast Monster wove past them all, slicing the dozen Enforcers in half.
Diliya, cowering at the corner, clapped a hand over her mouth in terror; she'd hidden the instant the Monster appeared, not daring to fire.
Her caution proved wise—the creature still hadn't noticed her.
'Where do these Monsters come from? Which Source-Artifact User could project power across such a distance?' Her father served as a Holy Warrior in the Church; she knew a little about source artifacts.
"Hee-hee-hee, where are you off to, pretty?" A voice she couldn't understand sounded overhead.
Diliya looked up to see a two-meter-long lizardman on the outer wall, flicking its tongue and grinning down at her.
"No!" She spun and fled, knowing bullets were useless against these things.
"Hmph! Trying to run!" The lizard Monster's jaws gaped, spitting a glob of green slime.
Splat!
"Ahhh!" The slime struck her back; with a single scream her body melted away.
Bzzzzzz!
At the golden portal, a two-and-a-half-meter black humanoid mosquito appeared, wings humming.
Ignoring the corpses, it barked at the two Monsters approaching, "Move! Time is short—sacrifice as many souls as we can before the enemy Source-Artifact User reacts!"
"Got it—I'm off!" The beast Monster charged toward the nearest building, still grinning.
The lizardman faded into transparency and vanished.
"Go, Venomous Mosquito!" The mosquito Monster raised its arms; seams split open along them.
Whirrrrr! Countless black mosquitoes poured out and streamed into the city.
Watching them fly off, the mosquito Monster smiled cruelly.
A single bite from his venomous mosquitoes would kill an ordinary person within a minute—no resistance at all.
Elder Jin's stone could harvest souls within a ten-kilometer radius.
Any intelligent being that died inside that range would be automatically sacrificed to the gold stone, strengthening the portal.